224 
Harvesting Corn. 
culations is 5 feet high, the quantity of straw deteriorated will be 
15 inches, which, at 9 cwt. per foot, gives 11 cwt. ; this, as 
straw, is worth at least Is. per cwt. for manure and 2d. for litter, 
or 14(Z. in all. On the other hand, as stubble, its value for 
manure is diminished by one-half, or 6(Z. per cwt., whilst for 
litter it is totally unfit, being always cold and damp when so 
applied. This deterioration, therefore, on 11 cwt. amounts to 
Is. 4(1. per acre, to which, if we add 'ds. 9rf. for the expense of 
cutting, gathering, and carting home the stubble, we have lls; Id. 
as our expense^and loss to be added to 16^. 8d., the cost at harvest- 
time, or 11. Is. 9rf. in all ; which shows that high-reaping is the 
most wasteful and expensive of all the methods in use, the reap- 
ing-machine being more economical by about 50 per cent., whilst 
low-reaping and bagging are 9 per cent, more expensive than 
machine-mowing ; hand-mowing being more expensive than any 
except high-i-eaping. 
As dispatch is of the utmost importance in harvest, the reaping- 
machine and mowing-machines that take a wide cut must rapidly 
come into use. The custom of mowing barley and oats, and 
carting them loose, is most slovenly, and, as far as oats are 
concerned, very wasteful, besides being at all times injurious 
to the fodder. Barley, however, is thought by many to malt 
better when got loose after turning, because every grain will thus 
receive the same exposure to the weather, and consequently sprout 
alike ; but as the land gets better cultivated and heavy crops 
become the rule, farmers will be weary of the everlasting job of 
carrying heavy crops loose, and be induced to tie up more and 
more every year, even if the barley has been previously left in 
the swathe till properly weathered. 
An opinion is generally prevalent that a great difference in 
the quality of the straw is effected by climate, and to a small 
extent this is the case ; but far greater differences arise from the 
condition of the soil as to manurial matter for the nourishment 
of the crop, and from careful harvesting, by which the scorching 
heat of the sun and bleaching effect of wet are avoided. The 
truth of this may be inferred from the small value put upon 
straw as fodder in those districts, where the slovenly system 
of mowing and carting barley and oats as loose corn obtains. 
It is to be hoped that the high price of mutton and beef may 
cause these farmers to see the vast value of well-saved straw 
as the most economical means of supplying those fibrous ele- 
ments of food which are indispensable for ruminating animals. 
It must be admitted that in a fine harvest barley and oats are 
more quickly though more expensively saved when loose, because 
if the crop is tied up and shocked it will require three times as 
